Shrink-Swell

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The attempt to construct a sense of identity of the self, introspection, and bodily memory lead to self-representations in which the body is approached as form, expression, and something mutable. A body that sometimes shrinks and sometimes expands; a body that transforms and is reborn.

The application of a certain force upon the body leads to deformation. These forces may be pressures imposed by social norms and standards, as well as by experiences and perceptions that distort the image of a body. Bodily regimes lead to a state of continuous reshaping of the body, to an ongoing process of redesigning it. When increasing force is exerted upon a body, it reaches the stage of elastic deformation, and the body is led to the dissolution of its wholeness as it is fragmented into smaller parts.

Alongside the exploration and understanding of the self, the body is conceived as a tool for understanding the other, the outside world, and nature. The interest also extends to the body within, to the activities taking place deep beneath the skin, to the constantly changing internal universe that corresponds to organic forms encountered in nature. The entities and complexes that are created seek to find their shape and their place. A new anatomy is created, in which a channel of communication is established between the inner and the outer body.

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Developed between 2022 and 2023, this body of work formed my diploma thesis at the Athens School of Fine Arts.